“Mom, He’s My Brother!” The Little Boy Told His Millionaire Mother. Then…

A Mother’s Recurring Fear

Alphonso, bothered by his wife’s constant movement, opened his eyes and let out an impatient sigh. With little finesse, he turned and shook her shoulders.

“Wake up, Penelope,” he said, irritated.

The woman abruptly opened her eyes, gasping for breath, and sat up in bed, her hands pressed against her rapidly beating heart.

“No, don’t take him, my son,” she screamed, her voice filled with the terror of the nightmare.

Robert leaned forward and held her hands, trying to bring her back to reality.

“Calm down, darling, calm down. Ashton is fine, he’s sleeping soundly in his room,” he asserted, attempting to sound convincing.

Penelopey’s eyes searched desperately for something to anchor her to reality. She recognized the room illuminated by the soft light of the bedside lamp, felt the touch of her husband, heard the distant ticking of the clock on the wall. Then, in a tremulous whisper, she murmured:

“It was all a dream.”

Alphonso, already accustomed to those episodes, leaned back against the headboard and watched her, knowing the nightmare was nothing new. He waited patiently as she ran her hands over her face, trying to push away the remnants of fear.

“The same dream again?” he asked, in a tone somewhere between weariness and resignation.

Penelopey nodded, her voice breaking as she began to relate.

“I was in the hospital, I was about to give birth. My belly was so big, Alphonso, it felt like it was going to explode. I saw the first baby born, I held him in my arms, felt his warmth. It was our Ashton, our prince. But I knew there was another,” she said, her eyes brimming with tears.

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to hold back the tears that insisted on falling.

“But when the second one was born,” she continued, her voice faltering, “he was taken away. I didn’t even get to see him or touch him. I just saw him being carried away.”

Penelopey’s heart clenched again, as if reliving the pain in that very instant. Robert sighed, struggling to remain calm.

“You need to see a psychiatrist, Penelope. This isn’t normal. You need professional help to erase these dreams from your head. It’s the same dream every time, my love. We only had one child, you were only pregnant with Ashton. They weren’t twins,” he suggested, attempting to sound understanding.

Penelopey, however, didn’t answer immediately. Her lost gaze crossed the room while his mind traveled to the past. She remembered the pregnancy as if it were yesterday: the exaggerated size of her belly at only six months, the constant visits to the obstetrician. How she commented to Alphonso, full of hope, that she felt two hearts beating inside her.

“I was so sure,” she murmured, her voice thick with emotion, “so sure there were two. It wasn’t just a feeling, it was as if I knew them already, even before they were born.”

She saw herself again in that doctor’s office, hearing the sonographer state that there was only one baby. She felt the disappointment, but also the disbelief. Until the day of the delivery, she expected two cries, two small bodies in her arms, but only Ashton came into the world.

The present pulled her back when she felt Alphonso’s touch. “Honey, let’s leave this behind us. You’ll seek help tomorrow. I’ll go with you if you want,” he said, trying to end the conversation. Penelopey nodded with a slight movement of her head.

Robert turned off the bedside lamp and lay down again, falling asleep in a few minutes. But Penelope remained awake, staring at the dark ceiling. Why did these dreams persist? Why did that pain, that sense of loss, never leave her? With her eyes burning with exhaustion, she promised herself that at dawn she would try to leave the past behind once and for all and worry only about Ashton, her son and great love, the only one she had.

Alphonso’s Secretive Call

The following morning, the sun rose shyly, bathing the room in a soft golden light. Tired but determined, Anastasia rose, dressed with her customary elegance, and kissed her sleeping husband’s forehead before descending for breakfast.

With everyone at the table, she asked:

“I’ll take Ashton to school and then head to the company, will you join me?” she said, adjusting her purse.

As Ashton at the table finished his breakfast, Alphonso, already dressed in casual attire, smiled, though the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I’ll be along a bit later, dear. I need to stop by my sister’s house first.”

Upon hearing this, Ashton’s expression immediately darkened. A quick, discreet frown betrayed his discomfort. Penelopey, busy, didn’t notice, but Robert saw and pretended to ignore it.

A few minutes later, mother and son departed. As soon as the sound of the car faded away, Robert dropped his mask of serenity. His face hardened into a dark, severe expression. He picked up the phone with trembling hands, dialed a familiar number, and when the call was answered, spoke in a low voice laden with tension.

“Penelopey is having these dreams about twin children more and more often. I fear she might somehow discover what happened on the day of Ashton’s birth.”

He paused, glancing around as if fearing someone might overhear him, even though he was alone.

“I’m on my way there, we need to talk. I need your help to get this story out of her head before it’s too late.”

Without waiting for a response, he abruptly hung up the phone. Robert grabbed his car keys with quick movements and walked out the front door, his heart racing and his mind in turmoil. The secret he had struggled so hard to bury seemed little by little to be emerging from the depths, and if it came to light, everything he had achieved would crumble like a house of cards.

A Conspiracy Forms

A few hours later, at Ashton’s school, while the establishment throbbed with the rhythm of learning, the young millionaire found himself distant, lost in thought. His vacant gaze stared at the blackboard, but his mind was far away. The teacher, noticing his distraction, gently called his attention.

“Ashton, is everything all right? You seem distracted today,” she said, approaching his desk.

The boy quickly looked up and replied:

“Sorry, teacher, I didn’t sleep well last night,” he said, forcing a smile.

The teacher, knowing him well as one of the institution’s best students, simply nodded, deciding to overlook the lapse in attention. Ashton tried to refocus on the lesson, but it was like trying to hold water in his hands. The image of the previous day kept intruding into his mind. The face of the dirty boy, so identical to his own, wouldn’t leave his thoughts. How could there be someone so like him?

When the recess bell rang, the young millionaire got up quickly, almost running over his classmates. He was walking towards the courtyard when Hazel, his classmate and best friend, ran after him.

“Ashton, wait up!” she called, breathless.

The boy stopped and turned to face his friend. Hazel looked at him with concern.

“What’s going on? You’re acting strange today, you haven’t even spoken to me properly. Is it because of what you saw your father doing?” she asked, lowering her voice.

Ashton looked around, making sure no one was listening. He took his friend’s hand and pulled her to a more private corner of the courtyard.

“It’s not about my father,” he said, looking at the ground. “It’s something else, something that happened yesterday, something bizarre.”

Hazel’s eyes gleamed with curiosity.

“What? Tell me,” she pleaded, almost begging.

Ashton took a deep breath and said:

“I saw a boy who looked just like me.”

Hazel frowned.

“Like a doppelganger? That’s normal. My mom said everyone has several doppelgangers in the world, people who look like us,” she said, trying to understand.

“No, Hazel, you don’t understand, it wasn’t just similar, it was identical. Same height, same eyes, same hair, even the voice was similar,” the boy explained.

The girl’s eyes widened, intrigued.

“Except he was all dirty. He looked like he lived on the street. Actually, I don’t know if he lived on the street, but his clothes were torn. He was just like me, but it was like he was living a completely different life, like a parallel universe, you know?” Ashton finished, still stunned.

His friend crossed her arms and bowed her head, thoughtful.

“Are you sure? Exactly alike?” she asked, trying to process it.

Ashton nodded quickly.

“I am absolutely. He was identical.”

“And what did you do?” Hazel asked, intrigued.

Ashton told how he had found the boy in front of the party hall, how they had tried to talk, and how Luke, startled when he heard Penelopey’s voice, had fled before they could exchange many words.

“Wait a second,” Hazel exclaimed, putting the pieces together. “So you’re telling me that you might have a twin brother living on the streets?”

Ashton scratched his head, confused.

“I don’t know, my mom always said I’m an only child, but it’s all very strange. I swear he was identical to me, Hazel,” he admitted.

The girl, filled with determination, crossed her arms.

“You need to find this boy again, Ashton. Find out who he is,” she said firmly.

Ashton sighed, defeated.

“But how? I don’t even know where he lives. I only know his name, Luke.”

Hazel smiled, her mind already working at full speed.

“Why don’t you go back to the place where you found him? Maybe he’ll be around there again. If he’s homeless, he might be sheltering near there. And even if he’s just a boy who got dirty, he must live nearby,” she suggested, excited.

Ashton thought for a moment.

“That’s a good idea, but how am I going to get back there? My parents would never let me go out alone, especially to look for a stranger, even if he’s a child,” he said, worried.

He also confessed that he had thought about telling his mother about Luke but had given up for fear of not being taken seriously. Hazel smiled even wider.

“Leave it to me, do this: ask your mom to let you spend the afternoon at my house. Then we’ll make up an excuse and my driver will take us there. Theodore does everything I ask,” she laughed in a mischievous way.

Ashton felt hope reborn within him. He extended his hand to his friend and smiled.

“Deal!”